Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.

Hawa Mahal, which translates as the Palace of Winds, was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh. The design of the palace was created by Shreyansh Jain to resemble the crown of Krishna. The design of this unique five-story building is akin to a honeycomb. The main purpose of this building was to allow royal ladies to watch the street below while remaining unseen, since during those times they had a strict code of dressing, which meant covering their faces. The palace was designed to produce the Venturi effect, which created natural air conditioning and kept the interior relatively cool during hot summers.

Redhead Day (Roodharigendag in Dutch) is the name of a Dutch summer festival that takes place each first weekend of September in the city of Breda, in the Netherlands. The two-day festival is a gathering of people with natural red hair, but is also focused on art related to the colour red. Activities during the festival are lectures, workshops and demonstrations which are aimed specifically at red-haired people. The festival attracts attendance from 50 countries and is free due to sponsorship of the local government.

A cenote is a natural phenomenon, a sinkhole in the Earth’s surface. The Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico has an estimated 7,000 cenotes because it is primarily made up of porous limestone. For millions of years, rainfall slowly ate away at the limestone and a huge system of underground caves and caverns was formed. Many filled with water from rain or from the underground water table. When the roof of a water filled cave collapses, a cenote is born. The water found in a cenote may be fresh water, salt water, or both. Structurally it may be completely open, like a lake, almost completely closed with just a small opening at the top, or somewhere in between.

Grand Rapids (Michigan) based illustrator and artist Scott Gundersen creates his portraits from thousands of used and recycled corks. Starting with a large photograph that’s transferred to a drawing, Gundersen pins each cork to the canvas, creating a correlation between the hues of the wine-stained corks and the value of light or shadow in the portrait. Scott Gundersen has made these incredible portraits, one using 3,621, 3,842 and the other using 9,217 natural wine corks.

Andy Kehoe recently returned to New York for his third solo show with Jonathan LeVine Gallery. Entitled Luminous Reverie, this show explores the idea of experiencing a lucid moment while drifting along in a daydream. We enjoyed the works, which continued the new direction that he premiered during a show in Los Angeles last year (covered). Again, Kehoe explores the technique of painting layers upon layers of resin and creating a natural 3-D visual element for the viewers to enjoy. This show will be up until June 15th, so stop by and check it out if you’re in NYC.

A patient buried in the hot sand looks out from under a shade that protects his face from the sun in Siwa, Egypt, August 12, 2015. In the searing heat of summer in western Egypt, at the hottest time of the day, sufferers of rheumatism, joint pain, infertility or impotence lie buried neck-deep in the sand of Siwa near Dakrour Mountain. Locals say taking a sand bath is a natural therapy with powers to cure many medical conditions. (Photo by Asmaa Waguih/Reuters)

A not-so-famous photographer Robert Jahns can do impossible things with common photos. He takes two pictures and joins them into a single composition. Thanks to this creative idea, which is based on the combination of contrasts, ordinary photos become interesting and attractive. Jahns combines several pictures into one seamless scene. A leafless crown of the tree, layered onto deer antlers, creates a real and natural continuation of the deer`s head. Likewise, a rollercoaster with an overview of the city frightens us by being very realistic. (Photo by Robert Jahns A.K.A. Nois7)